NORMAL, Ill. -- Devin Watson pumped in 23 points and San Diego State won its first true road game of the season, knocking off Illinois State, 75-65 in the Mountain West/Missouri Valley Conference Challenge on Saturday afternoon.
The Aztecs (5-2) played three of their first six games on neutral sites.
Wilson hit a 3 to give San Diego State a quick, 8-3 lead and the Aztecs pushed it to 16-7 after Jalen McDaniels dunked with 12:45 remaining in the half. The Redbirds got within three early in the second half, but Wilson answered with a jumper and McDaniels dunked again and the Aztecs maintained their distance the rest of the way.
McDaniels finished with 12 points and 15 rebounds for San Diego State (5-2).
Phil Fayne and Malik Yarbrough each added 16 points and Yarbrough grabbed 13 boards for Illinois State (6-3), which suffered its first loss in five home games.
Former San Diego State coach Steve Fisher traveled with the team. The two-time national Coach of the Year earned his bachelor's and master's degrees from Illinois State and he was 2-0 coaching against his alma mater.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
Sophomore Jalen McDaniels has reached double figures in a career-best seven consecutive games with h12 points and a career-high 15 rebounds against the Redbirds. This marked his 10th career double-double, with the Aztecs posting a 9-1 record in those games.
THEY SAID IT
"Devin is the competitor and Jeremy plays with a smile on his face, he is just so relaxed and takes great joy in playing the game and they end up with 40 points for us and 10 assists between them. If you are going to play well on the road it is usually senior guard play and we got great senior guard play." - SDSU head coach Brian Dutcher
UP NEXT
San Diego State returns home to face San Diego on Wednesday evening at Viejas Arena.. The Aztecs have won 11 of the last 12 games between the teams.
Illinois State travels to Chicago to face UIC on Wednesday.